Urban and
Environmental Policy
UEP 410 Fall
2006
(ext. 2712; gottlieb@oxy.edu)
Monday-Wednesday 11:30-12:55;
UEPI Conference Room
Background to the Seminar
The advanced seminar in urban and environmental policy (UEP 410) is organized around two sets of activities. The first involves participation through the readings, seminar presentations, discussions, speakers, and films on major political, public policy, and planning issues. The second involves initiating work on senior projects -- the two-semester research and writing effort that should be considered the culmination of one’s academic work at Occidental. The work on the senior project during the fall has direct bearing on the work undertaken in the spring in UEP 411; that is, the work on the project in the fall is crucial to the overall process of completing a strong comps project. Getting started on the comps project in fall semester (i.e., picking a topic, developing your research question and hypothesis, possibly selecting a client, and getting started on the research) is crucial. It is especially important that you identify a subject that you will feel passionate about and be willing to spend the time and the intellectual and emotional investment you’ll need to make if it’s to be a meaningful and valuable process. To be engaged this way can be enormously rewarding, and can provide real world skills and a sense of commitment that will stay with you after graduation. The advanced seminar component of the class can also be valuable by serving as a culmination of the ways in which we think about and explore the materials regarding the policy and political and cultural and economic and technical issues that we’ve been addressing in UEP courses.
The class time on Mondays will be divided into segments. These will include discussions, presentations, and short writing assignments on the topics; presentations by speakers; and presentation groups. The Wednesday class will focus on the organization and development of the comps project, including selecting the topic, exploring whether you’ll want a client, identifying your research question, developing a research plan and time line, and beginning the research, including the semester paper which should become part of the overall comps. We will also have sessions evaluating prior comps or thesis projects (three or four groups of students will select two previous comps papers to present during the course of the semester) and skill-related sessions (research strategies; interviews and surveys; exploring census data, etc.).
For
the seminar aspect of the class, there will be four different areas and related
topics, with readings, discussions, and presentation sessions organized around
each area. These include:
1. Health Policy Issues (with a focus on the debates over tobacco policy
and regulation, health and the built environment, and food and physical
activity-related health issues).
2. Transportation and Land Use Issues (with a focus on how the development of
transportation systems influenced growth patterns and the debates about future
transportation choices)
3. Politics and Policy: Should we care about Elections? (with a focus on the
electoral process and voting, including the two previous Presidential elections
and the November mid term elections in
4. Globalization and the Border (with a focus on U.S.-Mexico relationships,
including NAFTA, border plants, and immigration).
While
these topics cover a lot of territory, the readings and the
discussion/presentation sessions should provide some broad conceptual knowledge
about these different policy areas as well as a specific focus on major
contemporary issues or debates.
Each
student will be assigned to a group to lead the discussions or engage in
actions related to one of the topics, although each of the discussion sessions should
involve the active participation of the whole class. A topic group could focus
primarily on the readings and frame class discussions around those readings.
Other groups might want to use their topic as a form of engagement: for example,
the politics/election group could be involved in specific campaign activities,
and lead a discussion on the lessons from campaign work. Each group team will
select two of the topical areas in which they’ll present during the course of
the semester. Everyone, of course, will be encouraged to do all the readings,
but it will be the responsibility of the teams to organize their presentation
sessions and solicit discussion as the seminar leaders for that segment of the
class, using the readings or the actions they stimulate as part of the
discussion. I’ll also assign four short writing assignments related to the
readings and topics. Students will have the flexibility to decide if they’d
like to experiment with different writing formats for the short papers,
although they could also simply develop a more traditional short essay paper as
well. Possible formats could include (though are not limited to): a 700 word op
ed or blog entry; a two-three page concept paper for a grant proposal; a
two-three page memo to others in an organization on how to approach the
topic/issue areas; a two-three page policy brief; a literature review; or even
a personal narrative. I’d still want the content to reflect knowledge about the
topic and reference to the readings.
For several of the topics, there will be a speaker elaborating on the themes associated with the topic. Speaker sessions should be lively and interactive. We may also have films related to one or more of the topical areas.
This is an important segment of the class. There will be several hard deadlines established for the development of the senior project during the fall semester, with a paragraph, short memo, or outline of the work due by the dates listed below. These include:
Selection of Project Topic
(deadline October 4)
Selection of the research question (deadline: October 18);
Initial bibliography (deadline: November 15);
Winter break work plan and
research strategy (deadline: November 29);
Presentations of research to
date (December 4 and December 6);
Completion of research
paper/section of comps (deadline: December 11).
We
will devote class time on Wednesdays for group and individual discussions on
the process and substance of the research for your senior projects. Several sessions will involve discussions
regarding various research methods (e.g., interviewing; census data analysis,
etc.) We will also discuss the mechanics of pulling together a successful
senior project, including a review of other comps projects. Each group team
will be responsible for analyzing and critiquing at least two prior comps as
part of this review. There will also be a presentation/discussion session led
by each student concerning the topic that they have selected, the research
questions that need to be addressed, and the policy issues involved. The
initial work plan should provide a detailed time line and initial literature
search. The final work plan should also
include a description of the range of research sources and materials that will
be used. The final research paper should be directly related to your senior
project. It could be the introductory
chapter of your overall senior project, which would include a preliminary
literature review and discussion of the broad themes and research questions. It
could also take the form of a “work in progress,” but this work in progress
must include some preliminary substantive work. The presentations should
provide an overview of the research paper/work in progress paper.
Final grades will reflect the work in each of the segments. These include: participation in readings, presentation sessions, class discussions and development of senior project, including meeting deadlines – 40%; writing assignments – 30%; final paper – 30%.
Class Organization
I’ve
organized each class session by date according to topic, readings, debate
sessions, and senior project sessions.
Mondays will be generally dedicated to the seminar topics; Wednesdays to
the senior project. My office hours will also be on Mondays (10:30-11:15 and 1:30-3)
and Wednesdays (10:30-11:15 and 1-2), but I will be on campus and available to
meet with you most other days if you need to see me and we are able to work out
a time. Please feel free to contact me
above and beyond any formal office visit, particularly on the progress of the
senior project.
Tobacco (August 30-
September 18)
“The Politics of Tobacco Regulation in the U.S.,”
Robert Kagan and William Nelson in Regulating Tobacco, Edited by Robert
Rabin and Stephen Sugarman, pp. 11-38
“The Ordinary Politics of Legislation”, Chapter 2,
pp. 8-26; “The Changed Context of Policymaking,” (Chapter 6, pp. 93-118); and
“Chronology of Cigarette Regulation” (pp. 249-255), in Up in Smoke: From
Legislation to Litigation in Tobacco Politics, Martha Derthick.
“If It’s Good for Philip Morris, Can it Also be Good
for Public Health,” Joe Nocera, New York
Times Magazine, June 18, 2006
“The Public Health Payoff of ‘No Smoking Allowed,’”
Angela Spivey, Environmental Health
Perspectives, June 2006
Thomas Maugh and Erin Cline, “Secondhand Smoke: It’s
All Bad,” Los Angeles Times, June 28,
2006
“Calabasas Snuffs Out Public Smoking,” Amanda
Covarrubias,
“All (Puff) in Favor (Puff) Say Aye )Wheeze),” Anne
Kornblut, New York Times, February
12, 2006
“The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the
Surgeon General: Executive Summary,” May 27, 2004, available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2004/pdf/executivesummary.pdf
“Receding Tide for Beach Smokers,” Deborah Schoch,
“Light Up, Lose Your Job,” Joe Robinson,
“The Tobacco Industry and Pesticide Regulations:
Case Studies from Tobacco Industry Archives,” Patricia McDaniel, Gina Solomon,
and Ruth Malone, Environmental Health
Perspectives, December 2005
“Cigarettes, Taxes and Thin French Women,” Daniel
Gross, New York Times, July 24, 2005
Food, Physical Activity and
the Built Environment (September 11-September 18)
“The O Word: Why the Focus on Obesity is Harmful to
Community Health,” Larry Cohen, Daniel Perales, and Catherine Steadman, California Journal of Health Promotion,
2005, vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 154-161
“Relationship between Urban Sprawl and Physical
Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity,” Reid Ewing et al, in American Journal of Health Promotion, September/October 2003, Vol.
18, No. 1, pp. 47-57 in
http://www.rwjf.org/publications/publicationsPdfs/AJHP18Ewing47-57.pdf
“How the Built Environment Affects Physical
Activity: Views from Urban Planning,” Susan Handy et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2002, pp. 64-73
“Obesity: A Weighty Issue for Children,” Charles W.
Schmidt, Environmental Health
Perspectives, October 2003, pp. A700-A707
“Diabetes and Its Awful Toll Quietly Emerge as a
Crisis,” N. R. Kleinfield, New York Times,
January 9, 2006
“Sour on Sweet Drinks,” Susan Brink,
“Soda Sales Fall for First Time in 20 Years,”
Melanie Warner, New York Times, March
9, 2006
“McDonald’s is Rolling out a Healthier Image,”
Claire Hoffman, Los Angeles Times,
June 17, 2005
“Striking Back at the Food Police,” Melanie Warner,
“The Food Industry Empire Strikes Back,” Melanie
Warner, New York Times, July 7, 2005
“Dilbert, Drop that Pastry,” Francesca Lunzer Kritz,
“
“
“The Bread is Famously Good, but It Killed
McDonald’s” Ian Fisher, New York Times,
January 12, 2006
GROUP PRESENTATION: September 25
Short Paper Due September 27
TOPIC 2: Cars
and Freeways and Land Use in the City
“Cars and Freeways in the City,” Chapter 5 in Reinventing
“Seeking Fiscal Health Without Gas Tax,” Sarah
Kershaw,
“Heavy Traffic Ahead: Car Culture Accelerates,”
Richard Dahl, Environmental Health
Perspectives, April 2005
“The Fifth Ecology: Fantasy, the Automobile, and
Group Presentation: October 18
Short Paper
Due October 18
Session
#3 – October 30- November 8
Voting and Elections (October
30-November 6)
“The Incredible Shrinking Electorate” (Chapter 1),
pp. 3-22; “Parties and Candidates: Politics of the Moment,” (Chapter 2), 23-62,
“Election Day: The Politics of Inequity,” (Chapter 5), pp. 128-145, in The Vanishing
Voter: Public Involvement in an Age of Uncertainty, Thomas Patterson, 2002
“Winner Takes Nothing,” (Chapter 15, pp278-297) in Fixing
Elections: The Failure of America’s Winner Take All Politics, Steven Hill.
“Voter Participation: A Brief Literature Review,”
Jessica Roberts, California Voter Participation Survey, 2004,
http:www.calvoter.org/issues/votereng/votpart/review.html
“Was the 2004 Election Stolen?” Robert Kennedy Jr., Rolling Stone, June 15, 2006
“Smoothing the Way to the Polls,” Kafi Blumenfield, Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2005
“Bill to Bolster Election Clout Gains,” Nancy Vogel,
Alternatives (October 30-November
8)
“Democracy and Participation Agenda for
“
“Urban Archipelago: Progressive Cities in a
Group Presentation: November 8
Short Paper
Due Nov. 8
Session
#4: November 13-November 20
Globalization: Movement of
Goods and Capital (November 13-20)
“It’s a Flat World, After All,” Thomas Friedman, New
York Times, April 3, 2005
“Globalization is Doing a World of Good for
“The Myths of Globalization Exposed: Advancing
toward Living Democracy,” Vandana Shiva, Chapter 9 in Worlds Apart:
Globalization and the Environment, James Gustave Speth, pp. 141-154
“Ports in a
Storm,” Dinesh Sharma in Environmental
Health Perspectives, April 2006
“Cutting Here, But Hiring Over There,” Steve Lohr,
“State Laws Take Back Seat to Trade,” Evelyn
Iritani,
Globalization, Immigration,
and Crossing Borders (November 13-20)
“Nation and Empire: Hierarchies of Citizenship in
the New Global Order,” Stephen Castles, International
Politics, June 2005
“The Hispanic Challenge,” Samuel Huntington, Foreign Policy, March/April 2004
Jeff Faux, “How NAFTA Failed
“Communities Without Borders,” David Bacon, The Nation, October 24, 2005
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making
of Modern
“How Grandma Got Legal,” Mai Ngai,
Group Presentation: November 27
Short Paper Due Nov. 27
Comps Roundup
Sessions: November 27 and November 29
Presentation Sessions:
December 4-December 6